Osun State Governor, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola says building a sustainably prosperous state requires strategic investment in young people in a manner that prepares them for the reality of the keenly competitive global knowledge economy.
He stated this at the Grand Finale of the second edition of the “Osun Independence Essay Competition”, organized by the Osun State Government to commemorate the 61st Independence Anniversary of the country.
Mr. Oyetola described the concern as the motivation behind organising the Independence Day Essay Competition by the Osun State Government.
Represented by his Deputy, Mr. Benedict Alabi, the governor charged young persons to always be competition-ready and be imaginative as active producers of relevant ideas for nation-building.
Governor Oyetola maintained that the goal of a functional education was the deliberate training of the mind to acquire the requisite capacity to provide workable solutions to societal challenges.
In his welcome address, the Commissioner for Regional Integration and Special Duties, Mr. Lekan Badmus appreciated the state governor for approving the 2021 Osun State Essay Competition among students of secondary and tertiary schools as part of the activities lined up to mark the 61st year of Independence of Nigeria.
Mr. Badmus told the gathering that the essay committee comprised of interdisciplinary professionals received 700 entries of students from 34 schools of both private and public higher institutions across the country.
He explained that the competition was a paradigm shift from the traditional Independence March-Past to promote the reading and writing culture among students which is capable of encouraging healthy rivalry as well as intellectual competition in secondary and tertiary institutions.
In a keynote address, the Chairman of the event, the former Chief of Policy and Plans of the Nigerian Army, Lieutenant General Lamidi Adeosun (rtd), gave kudos to the Osun State government for the initiative in a world where negative activities had become the norm.
General Adeosun charged participants and the teeming youth population of the state not to relent in their efforts in contributing their quota to the development of the society, adding that education, security, and other developmental needs of the nation, are a collective responsibility.
He recommended the teaching of family values and ideals as key to rebuilding the weak security architecture of the nation, maintaining that security is not only a top-down affair but also has a bottom-up dimension that requires citizens’ vigilance and responsibility.
Miss Abisola Faith Adegboyega from Fakunle Comprehensive High School, Osogbo, emerged as the winner in the secondary school category, while Mr. Victor Ayodeji Adeyemo, a medical student from Bowen University won the tertiary institution category.
The winners for the tertiary category, aside from cash prizes, also went home with a Toyota Corolla car.
Adenitan Akinola
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